


Sharp-Dressed

by misura



Category: The Night Manager (TV)
Genre: M/M, Missing Scene, Suit Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22132369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "My God," Roper said. "It's like the ugly duckling turned into a swan."
Relationships: Jonathan Pine/Richard Roper
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	Sharp-Dressed

Looking in the mirror, a sharp-dressed stranger looked back.

"My God," Roper said from next to his old clothes. (Jonathan had felt Roper's eyes on him as he changed, felt a 'do you mind?' rise to his lips before he'd swallowed it, because Thomas wouldn't mind, would he?) "It's like the ugly duckling turned into a swan."

Jonathan turned, the fabric of the suit smooth and cool against his skin. "Thank you. I think."

"Bah." Roper rose, looking but not touching. "You show me a fellow who looks his best after having gotten beaten to a pulp, and I'll show you the way to the nearest place to get measured for a pair of glasses. Very nice. Very nice, indeed."

Jonathan remembered the story of Jed. Went to buy a horse, came back with a - what, instead?

He wondered if Roper had bought her clothes, if he had walked around her, looking and nodding and smiling, as if his was the only opinion that mattered. If Jed had let him. (She probably had. Money had that effect on people sometimes - and Jed wouldn't have known, then, what Roper really was, and did.)

"So glad you approve of my purchases." Jonathan was a little galled to realize that if the purchases, the choices had really been his, he might have ended up with the same selection.

Roper chuckled. "Yup. Still got it. Great taste: the one quality a man never loses no matter how old he gets."

"Modesty isn't one of your vices, is it?" Jonathan said, before he could help himself. It was the stress, he told himself. Roper's nearness, Roper's eyes, the way Roper would pause every once in a while to lick his lips - not nerves, Jonathan didn't think. Anticipation, perhaps.

Roper smiled with a hint of genuine amusement. "Never had much use for that one. Nor do you, I fancy. Modesty's overrated. Underrating yourself, selling yourself short - where's the profit in that? Now, getting someone to underestimate you, to think you're harmless when, in fact, you're anything but, that's a different matter entirely. That, I can approve of, even admire."

Jonathan smiled back. "I rather imagine that anyone who underestimates you lives to regret that decision."

Roper's smile turned into a grin. "Let's say some few of them did indeed live and leave it at that."

Jonathan grinned - one killer to another. He wondered how Roper would make his move, and when. Refusal would not be an option, naturally. Roper might act as if it was, though. Roper might enjoy playing the game, waiting for Jonathan to make the first move, to cut the chase short and move on to the kill.

Roper reached out, touching at last. Jonathan toyed with the idea of pulling away, pretending ignorance where outrage would, at best, see him fail. A better strategy might be to act as if he returned Roper's interest, play the part of small-time crook newly come to the big league, grateful for every scrap of attention thrown his way, willing to let Roper spend as much money on him as Roper wanted.

"You know, any number of men might be trying to bash my face in right about now," Roper said, his hand sliding down Jonathan's arm. "At the very least, they might object to the liberties I'm taking here. You - nothing. Cool customer, aren't we? Used to guests getting handsy?"

Jonathan allowed a hint of distaste to show in his expression. "Hardly."

"What, then?" Roper asked, undoing the top button of Jonathan's shirt. "Thinking of a career change? Too long ago since you got a proper lay? Sudden case of lust?"

"Oh, I definitely don't intend to switch jobs again so soon," Jonathan said. He imagined Roper putting his mouth where his fingers had been, leaving a mark on the now exposed skin.

It wouldn't mean anything, of course. A man's loyalties were not determined by the marks on his body.

"Smart move," Roper said, undoing another button. "So. How'd you think you might best thank me for this very nice suit I bought you?"

"As I recall, I paid for them with my own credit card." The tailor's touch had been impersonal, professional. Roper had looked on, discussing fabrics, colors, the weathe.

"Let's not get technical, shall we?" Roper said. "Trust me. You wouldn't like me if I got technical."

A few buttons still remained. Jonathan supposed he might wait, let Roper finish unbuttoning his shirt before moving on to his pants, until he'd have Jonathan stripped. Naked, for Roper to look his fill without clothes getting in the way.

"All right," Jonathan said, noting the way Roper did not even tense a little bit when Jonathan pulled him closer for a kiss. That might be useful, one day.

It was already useful today. Roper's mouth was soft under his own, willing enough to let Jonathan take this much. All things considered, it was not the worst kiss Jonathan had ever had. He felt Roper's hands at work again, quick and sure and confident.

"Leave the suit on the floor," Roper said. "Someone'll come and pick it up. You get lucky, they might even wash and iron it for you."

Thomas wouldn't care if his pants got crumpled. Jonathan, in turn, didn't care if Roper saw him naked. As Roper had pointed out: modesty was overrated.


End file.
